if you haven't heard about Anka, it is the easiest way to make a podcast. Let me explain. It is free. There is a creation tool that allows you to record and edit your podcast right from your phone or computer and then anchor will distribute your podcast for you. So it can be hard on Spotify and apple podcast and many more. You can make money from your podcast with no minimum. Listen ship it is everything you need to make a broadcast in one place. So download the free anchor up or go to anchor F. M. To get started. Good morning and welcome. This is pastor lucy pinter with your daily insight And today we continue with our topic demonstration of power D two mm Despite getting a driver's license at the age of 16 in most states here in the us, the age of maturity is 21 and the time mature difference in different cultures and I'm gonna talk about the culture that I understand so well.

So I'm going to give an example of the African muslim African cultures. A boy is not regarded as a man until after they undergo circumcision and these and other rites of passage that a boy must go through at puberty are intended to introduce the boy into adulthood. Mhm. Then the new man can now be let in on the secrets of the society but beyond the surgical aspect of the organization. This rite of passage also includes education preparation and initial and initiation into manhood information and skills considered necessary for man who passed along to the in sheets and they begin orientation into the various identities as sons, brothers, lovers and prospective fathers. So the young man now see, I started by calling in a boy after going all through this.

He's now a young man. So the young man now can now identify with other men in the society after this rite of passage. The young man and his place among the men of the society and he can now walk around in their company because he has earned his right of inclusion and I know today you're wondering where is pastor you going with this? Just stay right there, we'll get to it. So today's reading tells us about the lame man that was healed by Peter and john in the Book of Acts, chapter three we're gonna read from verse 1 to 8, it says that one day Peter and john were going out to the tempo at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was, who was lame from bath was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

When he saw Peter and john about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straighter to him as did john. Then Peter said look at us. So the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold, I do not have, but what I do have I give you in the name of jesus christ of Nazareth walk, taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk, then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God Hallelujah, what a powerful, powerful testimony Last week when we were covering the outpouring, we learned how the church was formed through the outpouring the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We also covered how the new believers gathered around the apostles for their teachings. In this chapter look begins with the narrations of the apostles ministry in Jerusalem and he gives an example of the many signs and wonders that were done through the apostle that he had earlier talked about in Acts 2 43. So these healing stories follow the typical form of other healing stories. In the bible, the sick person meets the healer, their condition is explained and the healing action in the world and then related. The actual healing is then narrated and approval, healing is provided, followed by a description of the reaction of the witnesses. So look uses this typical sequence of events as a demonstration of the continuity between the work of jesus and that of the impostors, it's good to know that. So I want us to understand that when the Holy Spirit is working through you, he leads you by divine direction, which is what he did with Peter and john so that they could work a miracle on a man who had been lame his entire life.

Their reactions towards the man where Peter tells him to look at them illustrates two individuals bound together in heart and in action by affection. This story is recorded in so much detail, not only because of the place where it took but also because of the weighty consequences it led to which we will see by and by. And as we go through this we are talking about demonstration of power. I want us to understand the bible stories especially healing stories are not just stories written to be understood at their literal literal level, literal, literal level year. They carry certain certain theological themes in them. So here was a man who had spent his entire life at the gifts of the temple begging, we don't even have his name but we have the name of the gate, that kate was called beautiful.

He had learned to place himself at the entrance of the temple where he could receive maximum attention and arms. He had been nothing more his entire life than a guy seeking charity from the worshipping community. He had never been part of the worshipping community but after he is healed luke says that the man went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. You know by the words of the impostors, something more than his physical abilities, changed his location in life also changed the healing changed his position from outside of the temple to the inside of it. He was no longer a mayor spectator, he became part of the worshipping community and this is the divine message woven into this healing story that when the spirit of God begins demonstrating his work, he brings healing of both the body and the soul, he n she hates the inclusion.

Remember the introduction, you were wondering where I'm going. You know, he's the one who in shit the inclusion of those who have been considered as outsiders, those who sit at the gates, those who sit at the edges of the society, Those who sit at the edges of the church. He brings people into his fault and restores their full world and pass on hood our calling today is to reach out to those who do not believe all, act like us to reach out and invite them to take part in the gift of inclusion. That the spirit of God extends to those whose hearts are open to his healing. And I want us to understand that he has already starred expectation and receptivity in them before he places them into our parts. And it's my prayer today that the spirit of God may help us identify the people he has placed in our parts.

You know, the context maybe different. Their needs may be different, but the healing ministry of the church is as old as the church itself, we have been gifted with something of greater power and value than any richest. The power to bring healing and restore hope into the out heads of those sitting in the outskirts. I'm speaking to you, you got the gift, you got a gift to bring healing. You know, the bible says in Acts 3 10, 12 to 10 to 12, that when they realized that he was a lame beggar, they had been they had seen so often at the beautiful game, they were absolutely outstanding. They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to peter and john peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.

He said, people of Israel, he said, what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we made this man to walk by our own power of Godliness. The people knew that the man was not an impostor. They had seen him in that condition for years. And so when the miracle happened, they could not have mistaken it for anything else. And this is how it has always been with the workings of the Holy Spirit. He lives no place for doubt. He does not leave space for speculation. His ways are christ or clear. The spirit of God does not demonstrate for the people's entertainment. He works miracles for a greater published, to arouse interest in the hearts of the people, to lay the ground for our testimony and our greatest commission to call people to repentance. Because miracles on their own do not bring people to jesus.

But even as we testify, christ to the world and bring souls to jesus, let us never forget in whose name and power we do this. It's not because we are too Godly. It's not because we are so spiritual or closer to God than anyone else is through the name and the power of jesus. We bring healing and hope. Even when people marvel at the demonstration of the Holy Spirit gives through us, may it be for the honor of God? It is the power of God that affects the cure and we should never claim the glory that is his for we are but his instruments shall um this is Pastor lucy painter with the demonstration of power Day too